Life Saving Love
by CrazyIndigoChild
Summary: After a freak accident, Quaxo and Tugger are stuck spending the night in the deadly winter cold and are left to their own devices to keep warm... and stay alive. 2nd place winner for Calanarie's Misto/Tugger fluff contest! Yayz


This is my farr-too-long entry for Calanarie's Tugger/Misto fluff contest :3

Yaaaaay! I got 2nd place! I am really happy and super proud of my ability to occasionally be nice to Misto :P Oh hush now, you all like the Misto angst! Hopefully another contest will roll around soon and I can try my hand at another story :D Won't that be fun!

Please, Enjoy and review :)

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Quaxo lay atop an old ironing board; basking in the warmth of the afternoon sun. He dozed lightly, listening silently to the sounds of the junkyard around him. He flipped onto his back to catch the golden heat with his neglected front, stretching to make sure to absorb as much of the late winter sun before it's early evening departure. His ears perked up when heard another cat climb up the junkpile, he flipped onto his stomach reluctantly to look down on who had decided to disturb his napping.

Tumble climbed up the new pile that the humans had made during the fall, he was curious to find what sat at the top as well as find a new hideout for him and his brother Pouncival. He looked up when he got the sensation of being watched; his hazel eyes met Quaxo's icy blues as he peered over the edge of the mountain's peak.

"Oh, hi Quaxo," Tumble greeted as he continued to climb, now with a new intention.

"Hi, Tumble," Quaxo waved to the other cat. Tumblebrutus and he were about the same age, they had both become toms about a month before and were both excited to spend their first Jellicle ball with their new status.

Tumble, with some difficulty, finally made his way up the side of the pile and plopped himself next to the smaller tux. Quaxo looked him over with wide eyes.

"Everlasting, you never stop growing!" he exclaimed. The brown and white tom quickly looked between himself and his friend before jokingly sticking his chest out and sitting up straighter.

"I am going to be the tallest cat in the junkyard, " he joked, making a reference to Skimbleshanks, his father, and his constant gloating over his sons' constant thriving. "Looks like you've.. grown a bit too," he tried. Truth is the magician stopped growing a while ago, though he still hoped that another growth spurt was in store for him.

"Ha! Nice try, Tumble. I'm not getting any taller and everyone knows it," Quaxo laughed, though the truth stung a bit inside. Tumble gave a polite nod and quickly dropped the subject.

"Can you believe it? Our first Ball as toms is only a few months away!" He enthused suddenly, his friend nodded with a big grin.

"I can't believe how long it's been. Remember our very first ball? You were so terrified of the Rumpus cat that you started crying!" Quaxo reminisced, Tumble shook his head slowly.

"No... I think that was you, Admetus had to take off his mask to get you to stop crying, remember?"

"No! I was never scared of the Rumpus cat, I knew it was Ade all along," Quaxo argued. "You were the one who stopped the whole ball because you were freaking out so bad."

"Nuh-uh! I remember you hiding behind Munkustrap because you thought RC was going to eat you!" Tumble laughed, giving the tux and playful punch on the shoulder. The two continuously punched eachother until they were outright wrestling for what was left of their kittenish pride. Tumble was about to knuckle Quaxo's headfur but stopped when he felt the board shift beneath them. He gripped the other cat's shoulders roughly; trying to keep the giggling tom still.

Quaxo stopped laughing when the board gave another jolt, he looked to Tumble who gave him a frightened glance. They both got up to jump from the unstable structure but were already sliding down the steep slope of the pile. They both screamed as they clung to eachother in fear. The board stopped when it collided into a protruding wall unit.

Quaxo flew forward off the board; the force flung him over the ledge of the unit to continue towards the frozen ground of the junkyard. Tumble clung to the fabric of a nearby sofa as he caught his breath, only realizing his friend was missing when he couldn't catch sight of him.

"Quax?" he called into the now chilly wind. There was no reply, no sign of the tiny tux anywhere. "Quaxo, this isn't funny!" he yelled as he crept cautiously down the base of the tower. "Quaxo!" He yelled again, only the ghostly sounds of the evening wind that blew between the gloomy, forgotten items was his reply.

The white and brown cat hugged himself for warmth as he took another glance around. "I'm going to get help!" he stated in hopes that his lost friend could hear him. He turned and dashed over and around the garbage that littered the junkyard floor. The chill that passed over his medium length fur told him that the sun was setting; the temperature lowering with it.

He ran blindly as adrenaline started to saturate his blood, he was so panicked that he didn't notice the Rum Tum Tugger sniffing at the prospect of a fat rat that lurked around a stack of broken cabinets. The speeding cat ran right into the golden flirt; knocking him over as he collided with Tugger's abdomen.

"Whoa! Where are you running off to in such a hurry, kit?" Tugger gasped when he recognized Jennyanydots' eldest son. Tumble's eyes were panicked and urgent as he picked himself up off the ground.

"There was an accident. Quaxo couldn't hold on. He's missing!" Tumble rushed, his arms flailing dramatically. Tugger's eyes went wide.

"Where did this happen? How long has he been missing?" Tugger placed calming paws on the younger tom's shoulders.

"Uh... over there, near the new piles!" he pointed in the direction from which he came, fidgeting in his hysteria.

"Ok, I'll go and look; you tell Munkustrap what happened," Tugger stated calmly, a bit too calm to fit his character. Tumble simply nodded and took off down the path that led to the heart of the junkyard.

Tugger frowned slightly at the cabinets before running off towards the site of the newer piles, this rat got lucky... this time.

It didn't take him long to find the slightly crumpled tower that he assumed was the one they were on. He trekked around the area; looking for any sign of the young tux.

"Quaxo!" he yelled into the cool, winter air. He looked up to the darkened sky, if he didn't find the black cat soon there would be no chance of finding him until the morning, and the chance of finding him alive... he couldn't even begin to imagine the little tom having to face the deadly cold of the night. The wind rustled his fur, the cool only brushing his skin for a second, his ears perked up.

He continued to call out his friend's name as he wandered through the frozen wasteland, he heard it again. He jogged and climbed to a small hill of unidentifiable garbage.

Thump, thump, thump.

He nearly jumped with excitement and fear when the noise came from the wreckage in front of him. "Hey, Quax. You in there?" he knocked on the frozen metal wall of a microwave with his gloved knuckles. To his surprise, the light thudding responded in repetition. A low, muffled voice followed shortly after.

"Help! I can't get out!" Tugger looked over the small heap that lay on-top his friend, it wasn't too big. He knelled next to the cracked microwave to speak to the trapped Jellicle.

"I'm going to try to dig you out, stay still," he ordered before getting to his feet once again.

He started with the lose rubble near the side of Quaxo's prison; throwing the excess junk haphazardly to the side. The colours around him began to fade as the sun settled behind him to make way for the moon, the cold air nipped at his skin fiercely while it continued to pick up speed.

He heard light scratching on the other side of the wall that separated them, soon a small hole had collapsed. An icy blue eye peeked through the small breach.

"Tug!" he exclaimed, slightly surprised when he saw the mained coon as opposed to Munkustrap or Alonzo. The thick division between them had distorted his voice so it was hard for him to have recognized the cat at the time.

"Wow, you got yourself in a mess this time, tux," the golden tom laughed in relief. A soft chuckle emerged from the little hole along with the roll of the light blue eye.

"Yeah. Just get me out of here, it's freezing!" he laughed. They both got to work at removing enough trash so that Quaxo could pull himself out, by that time the wind was viciously whipping at both toms and small hail stones began to pelt unsheltered hides. Quaxo stuck his head out to look around, immediately regretting his decision when he was met with a face full of snow by the deadly winds. He reluctantly climbed out of the small cave and into the dark, moonless night.

Tugger grabbed the tux by his thinning scruff and pulled him out fully. He watched as Quaxo immediately collapsed into himself in a desperate search for warmth; his short furred coat not offering much protection against the elements.

"W-Where do we go," Quaxo had to shout over the wind to be heard. Tugger looked around but was only met with darkness, one wrong turn could spell their death. Well, Quaxo's death certainly, possibly his as well. Tugger thought for a minute about dragging the exposed tux into the unforgiving blizzard, all too quickly he realized that the risk wasn't worth it.

"Let's stay here for the night," Tugger shouted back. Quaxo nodded, unenthusiastically crouching to climb back into the cave that was once his prison. Tugger eagerly climbed in after him, realizing how cold he actually was once he got out of the wind.

The den was surprisingly roomy for a junk-slide, he looked over and saw the cracked, open door of the microwave that Quaxo had been in. The other tom looked around uneasily as he rubbed his arms.

"We're going t-to have to close the ent-trance off," Quaxo stuttered while he motioned to the tiny hole from which they entered. Tugger nodded and they started to look for something to temporarily block off the invading cold. They eventually decided that the shelf from the microwave was their best bet and eventually managed to wedge the circular plate to be used as a makeshift door. They nodded in satisfaction.

Quaxo walked to the back of the den and huddled into a corner near a rusty paint can, Tugger took a seat across from him. None of them spoke as they both wandered aimlessly in their minds in a feeble attempt to escape the hell of their situation. Tugger suddenly smacked his forehead in the heat of a new idea; Quaxo glanced at him suspiciously through frozen eyelashes, the cold had definitely gone to the flirt's head.

"Why can't you use your magic to get us out of here?" Tugger finally said, somewhat proud that it was his idea and not the magician himself. Quaxo gave him a menacing stare over his knees.

"Y-you think I-I haven't thought ab-about it! I c-can't, it won't w-work," he stammered, obviously angry at himself more than the leopard spotted tom in front of him. He cupped his hand over his small, black nose in an attempt to warm it enough to regain some feeling.

"You sure?" he asked hopefully. "Not even to help warm us up or anything?"

"N-no!" he snapped. "T-trust me T-Tugger, if I could I-I would-d." Tugger only nodded; trying to hide his disappointment.

"I don't trust anyone who says trust me," Tugger answered cheekily. Silence was the substitute for what would have been a snort or eye roll from the young tux.

They sat again in the dark silence of the cave, listening to the sounds of the wind and ice pulsating against the glass pane in the entrance. Although Jellicle cats could see in the dark, these two were submerged in darkness to the point where the only way they knew that the other was there was by the outline that sat a few feet away and the odd sneeze. The silhouette of the tiny magician started to slouch in front of the mane coon, tipping slightly to the left.

"Q-Quax, you OK?" he asked softly. No reply. "Quaxo!" Tugger leaned over to snap his fingers a few inches from the tux's face, a slight murmur escaped the white lips of the black cat. Tugger got to his knees, grabbing the other's shoulders to roughly shake him awake.

"Whaat?" Quaxo whined in dubious consciousness.

"You c-c-can't sleep, tux," Tugger's voice was heavy with concern, the magician only nodded in response. "You kn-know what we could do? We c-can huddle for w-warmth," Tugger offered for he knew that time was limited and options were slim.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to give you much warmth, Tug," he whispered, his body was long past shivering and he now sat feebly against the freezing paint can behind him.

"That's alright, you can make up for it by fanning me off in the summer." This got a small series of choppy breaths from the weakened tom, Tugger assumed that he was trying to exert some sort of laugh.

Without waiting for a response, Tugger scooped up the younger tom and pulled him to his chest. He could feel the bone deep cold that plagued his friend's body. Quaxo buried his face and hands into the blond coloured mane; trying to absorb as much heat as he could from Tugger's body. He had to admit, Tugger was very warm and he was loving the change in temperature his own body could not offer.

Tugger shifted so that they were both lying curled up on the ground; the tiny magician seemed to fit perfectly in the curve of his body. He rested his head on Quaxo's whose was buried in his chest, he brought his tail to rest on his ice cold legs, hoping it would do some good. Tugger started to get nervous when the tux's body hardly moved save for the slow, light rise and fall of his chest; he used his arm that was securely wrapped around Quaxo's back to poke him lightly on the shoulder. He got a small, groggy look of confusion in return; he shrugged it off and let the other return to the warmth of his long fur coat.

Curiously, Tugger leaned in slightly and smelled the dark fur on the top of the magician's head. It smelled lightly of inscents, as if he'd just walked out of a candle factory; in a way it suited him. He also carried his own unique scent, like any other cat, though he didn't reek of it. Tugger couldn't quite put  
the words to describe the scent together in his mind; he just liked it. His mind soon drifted to the feel of a small hammer beating against his chest, he quietly compared the magician's heart beat to his own. They were two of the same beat but danced differently, he lost the feel of the other's heart when Quaxo shifted in his grasp.

Quaxo lavished the warmth of the mane coon, he didn't want Tugger to know how cold he really was for fear of this happening. Surely, Tugger would hold this against him and mock him when they returned to the Jellicles in the morning... if they returned. He was a tom now; he didn't need someone else to keep him warm like a pathetic little kitten! He moved his hand that now rested on the coon's chest lightly, Tugger's fur was surprisingly soft; it usually gave the air of being more sleek. His cheek rested against his mane, which was also softer than expected. The heat against this frozen body was making him sleepy, and he would have slept too if Tugger didn't keep waking him up every few minutes.

Tugger sighed as he looked out towards the glass door, how long would it be until sunrise? Would the storm have stopped by then? He laid his head back down, at least neither of them were freezing anymore. Quaxo's lithe frame soon started to shiver again; violent trembles rocked his body. Tugger assumed that the shivering returned due to the added warmth, he remembered how unnaturally still the magician's body was earlier in the too-far-below-freezing temperature.

Tugger winced as the tux unknowingly unsheathed his claws and tried to stop the trembling by gathering more heat. It wasn't really the light digging of claws that bothered him the most, it was how close the tux was getting; granted it was he who encouraged the heat exchange but the needy air of the lean cat and the thinning space between them was starting to... make him blush? Surely enough, in the cold of their cave, Tugger could feel the rush of blood and the light heat that tingled in his cheeks: he was blushing.

"Easy there, Quaxo," Tugger laughed nervously. Quaxo gasped at the realization of what he was doing, cursing quietly before rolling out of the coon's grasp.

"I'm sorry, Tugger," he apologized frantically. If it weren't for the dark, Tugger would have definitely seen the heavy shade of red on his cheeks. He let out a surprised squeak when he was caught by the wrist and pulled back to the coon, he could hear Tugger chuckling softly and trying to conceal it from his keen ears.

"It's Okay," he whispered, a smile in his voice. "It's just it'll be easier for you to get warm if you stop squirming." Tugger wrapped Quaxo securely in his arms; hugging him closer than before. Quaxo nuzzled against Tugger's warmth before stealing a glance up at the coon's face, he was met with a soft gaze that stared back at him.

"I-I really need to grow a mane," Quaxo stammered, but not from the cold.

"And the chances of that happening are...?" Tugger teased, the young tux could just see the grin that had crept onto the coon's mouth.

"Less than none," he laughed. Tugger chuckled with him, the light breath fanning the tux's face gently, causing him to shiver.

"You still cold?"

"Kinda. Hey, thanks again, Tug. I would have been a cat-cicle by now," he hugged the older tom who, in turn, hugged back.

"It's no prob, Quax," he shrugged. Hoping that his client couldn't feel the violent trembling in his heart from the excitement of being so close. "You still owe me in the summer, this mane is great and all but the summer doesn't do it justice."

"Deal," he laughed in response. Silence fell between them, whispering secret confessions into the ears of the two huddled toms as they both soaked up the warmth and company of the other, cherishing a moment that they would probably never get back once night faded into day.

"Hey, look!" Tugger shook the small cat awake. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked up at the leopard spotted tom, surprisingly he could see the features on his face clearly: morning was dawning. "I'm sure everyone's been worried sick about you."

"I hope no one gets mad at my little disappearing act," Quaxo frowned, remembering the sound of Tumble's muffled voice calling his name. He tried hard to respond but the other cat couldn't hear him.

"Yeah- Isn't that disappearing thing of yours supposed to be intentional?" Tugger teased, his eyes bright and joyous in the dim light of the cave.

"Well... It's hard! I'm no professional, I still have tons of practicing before I can even control the disappearing. The ball was sheer luck!"

"You're an amazing magician, Quaxo," Tugger complimented. "You're better than any magician I've seen."

"Why... thank you, I- Wait. How many magicians besides me have you seen?" Quaxo leaned back to look directly at him, intrigued.

"Well... there's Macavity, Umm... Do the twins count?"

"They're mystics,"

"Oh, then just you two."

"I see. And you think I'm better than Macavity!" Quaxo exclaimed with a heavy layer of 'Are you crazy?' in his voice.

"Well," Tugger shifted slightly to explain his theory to the disbelieving tom. "If Macavity were that great, then wouldn't he have just poofed Old D into his lair like you did instead of crashing the ball with the henchcats and going through all that trouble?"

"I'm sure he had his reasons-"

"He's lame, that's his reason," Tugger quipped, obviously not caring whether or not the Hidden Paw heard him make fun. "You seriously don't give yourself enough credit," he said after a short pause. Quaxo shook his head slowly, Tugger's right.

"No, I don't. I guess I just don't want to get ahead of myself is all," he replied honestly, Tugger nodded; in other words, he was right.

Soon, they reluctantly separated from each other's grasp. The sun was out and they had to make it back to the clearing before Munkustrap pulled all his fur out from worry. The larger tom walked over to the entrance and pulled back the frozen glass tray as Quaxo stood a safe distance and watched as the snow came tumbling in and the sun breaking through even more. Tugger looked to the tom, giving his head a small jerk to motion the tux over. Quaxo complied and walked to the entrance, he felt saddened that they had to leave; though he would never show it nor say it out loud.

His attention was quickly brought back to the present when Tugger had pinned him against the microwave wall, his lips pressed firmly on the magician's. Quaxo stiffened in shock before giving in to his intoxicating smell and the heavenly sensation of their lips pressed together. The coon brought his hand up to stroke the fine fur on Quaxo's face, he smiled against the kiss when the magician shivered against his touch; the smiled faded to shock when he felt his own body tremble in response.

Tugger was the first to break the kiss, his hand still cupping the other's cheek. Icy blue eyes stared softly at him, making his hammering heart skip a few beats.

"We should go tell the other's we're alive," Tugger smiled wryly. Quaxo quickly took on the goofy grin in his own heart-shattering adaptation.

"They'll be surprised, won't they." They both laughed and exchanged a quick, affectionate nuzzle before leaving the stuffy cave. Neither of them regretted leaving their liberating prison for there was even better yet to come.

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I'm on a nice streak aren't I? Damn! What's wrong with me Xo Someone divided by zero that's what! Don't get too used to it! I'm going to have to write another rape fic to try and discount this fluff *choke* Apparently it isn't fluff, it's been called 'Fuzzy' but not fluffy, so I haven't gone_ completely_ soft xD


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